what are eggs fertile and other questions.

[augiedranch]

my roos are four months old. they are doing their thing like crazy.. are they actually doing anything....


also, if i breed a hen on monday.. on tuesday, the egg she lays, will it be by the roo that bred her on monday?


thanks

 

[miss_thenorth]

there' a post somewhere on what a fertilized egg looks like. And as far at is being fertilized, it takes about three weeks to go through the system.

 

[seriousbill]

A four-month-old cockerel may be fertile and probably is, although there can be lag time of a couple of weeks from the time he starts mating the hens. Once a roo has mated the hens, the sperm will be stored in their system for up to three weeks, usually more like two or two and a half.

Edited to add: Maximum fertility is within the first 4 days of mating.

 

[Davaroo]

"Humping the girls like crazy"... now there is some interesting descriptive.

 

[rooster-red]

Really the only way to tell if your eggs are fertile is to crack one open and look for a bastoid disk.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Sounds like some far away black hole, on an episode of Stargate.

 

[augiedranch]

thanks for all of your help! wow three weeks. .. so when i want just buff orpington babies, i need to keep them seperated for three weeks penned up? all of mine are free range, but i also have golden polishes, barred rocks, jersey giants, and rirs.


thank for the help. and sorry for the description. i will change the wording if i need to. let me know if i need to reword it.